Summer Island

‘One of the greatest storytellers of our time’ - Delia Owens, bestselling author of Where the Crawdads Sing

From the multimillion-copy bestselling author of The Women and The Nightingale, Summer Island is a poignant, warm and tender novel about a mother and daughter: the complex ties that bind them, the past that separates them, and the healing that comes with forgiveness.

Years ago, Nora Bridge walked out on her marriage and left her daughters behind. She has since become a famous radio talk-show host and newspaper columnist beloved for her moral advice, while her youngest daughter, Ruby, is a struggling comedian who uses her famous mother as fuel for her bitter, cynical humour.

When the tabloids unearth a scandalous secret from Nora’s past, their estrangement suddenly becomes dramatic. After Nora is injured in an accident, a glossy magazine offers Ruby a fortune to write a tell-all about her mother and Ruby returns home under the pretext of taking care of the woman she hasn’t spoken to for almost a decade.

Nora insists they retreat to Summer Island, to the lovely old house on the water where Ruby grew up; a place filled with childhood memories of love and joy and belonging. There, Ruby is also reunited with her first love and his brother. Once, the three of them had been best friends; inseparable. Until the summer that Nora left, and everyone’s hearts were broken . .

Kristin Hannah is an award-winning international number one bestseller with more than 25 million copies of her books sold worldwide. Her novels include, most recently, The Women (which topped the Sunday Times bestseller chart), The Four Winds and The Great Alone. The Nightingale is the winner of numerous best fiction awards and is soon to become a major movie, and Kristin’s much-loved earlier novel Firefly Lane, was a number one blockbuster series on Netflix. Kristin’s writing has taken readers across multiple eras and to many places, but the thing that connects all of her work is the focus on what it’s like being a woman in challenging times. Kristin is a lawyer-turned-writer and is the mother of one son. She and her husband live in the Pacific Northwest near Seattle.

Utterly absorbing. Kristin Hannah is singular in her ability to tell unforgettable stories about some of the women our world has forgotten — Taylor Jenkins Reid, bestselling author of Daisy Jones & The Six on The Women

Astonishing. Compelling. Powerful — Delia Owens, bestselling author of Where the Crawdads Sing on The Women

Stuns with sacrifice. Uplifts with heroism — Bonnie Garmus, bestselling author of Lessons in Chemistry on The Women

Great characters, great plots, great emotions, who could ask for more in a novel? — Isabel Allende, bestselling author of The House of the Spirits, on The Nightingale

Movingly written and plotted with the skill of Greek tragedy. You’ll keep turning the pages until the last racking sob — Daily Mail on The Nightingale

A master storyteller — Matt Haig, bestselling author of The Midnight Library on The Women

Wow. I have been left with a bursting heart . . . a story of love, family, unbreakable bonds, bravery and hope. I loved this book so much! — Christy Lefteri, bestselling author of The Beekeeper of Aleppo on The Four Winds

Summer Island by Kristin Hannah is an emotional novel about family, forgiveness, and second chances. At its heart is the strained relationship between a mother and daughter who have spent years avoiding one another after a painful betrayal tore their family apart. Set against the peaceful backdrop of Summer Island in the Pacific Northwest, the story explores how old wounds continue to shape people's lives and how facing the past can become the first step toward healing.

The story follows Nora Bridge, one of the country's most successful radio talk-show hosts. Known for her advice on love and relationships, Nora has built a public image of confidence and wisdom. However, behind her successful career lies a complicated personal life. Years earlier, she left her husband and daughters for another man, a decision that shattered her family and permanently damaged her relationship with her younger daughter, Ruby. Although Nora achieved fame and success, she has never escaped the guilt of losing the trust and affection of the people she loved most.

Ruby Bridge is now an accomplished photojournalist who has built her life around independence and emotional distance. She has spent years traveling the world, documenting wars and disasters instead of forming close personal relationships. Her dangerous career reflects her desire to stay emotionally detached, believing that depending on others only leads to disappointment. Deep down, Ruby still carries the pain of her mother's abandonment and has never forgiven Nora for destroying the family they once had. She refuses to let anyone get close enough to hurt her again.

When Nora becomes involved in a public scandal that threatens both her career and reputation, her publisher believes a personal memoir could repair her image. Nora reluctantly agrees but quickly realizes she cannot write honestly about her life without confronting the daughter who knows her best—and perhaps understands her least. She asks Ruby to help write the book, hoping the project will finally allow them to reconnect. Ruby initially rejects the idea, but after pressure from her editor and the promise of financial reward, she reluctantly agrees to spend the summer with her mother on Summer Island.

The reunion is anything but easy. Years of resentment, anger, and unspoken accusations make every conversation tense. Ruby arrives expecting only to complete the project and leave as quickly as possible. She has no interest in rebuilding their relationship and believes her mother is simply trying to repair her public image rather than sincerely seeking forgiveness. Nora, meanwhile, struggles to explain the choices she made years earlier without sounding as though she is making excuses for them.

As they begin working on the memoir together, old memories gradually surface. Through long conversations and painful recollections, Ruby begins to understand that her mother's life was far more complicated than she had imagined as a child. Nora speaks honestly about her unhappy marriage, the loneliness she experienced, and the mistakes that ultimately led her to leave her family. While these revelations do not erase the pain Ruby endured, they help her see her mother as a flawed human being rather than simply the villain of her childhood.

Throughout the novel, Kristin Hannah explores the complicated nature of motherhood. Nora deeply loves her daughters but failed them in significant ways through her decisions. Ruby's pain is equally understandable, having grown up feeling abandoned during some of the most important years of her life. Neither woman is portrayed as entirely right or wrong. Instead, the novel shows how love can exist alongside anger, disappointment, and regret.

Ruby's emotional journey extends beyond her relationship with Nora. During her stay on Summer Island, she reconnects with Dean, a man from her past who once meant a great deal to her. Their renewed friendship slowly develops into romance, forcing Ruby to confront her fear of intimacy. She realizes that the emotional walls she built to protect herself have also prevented her from experiencing lasting happiness. Dean's patience and understanding encourage her to believe that trust, though difficult, is still possible.

As Ruby spends more time on the island, she also reconnects with her older sister, who has responded differently to their mother's betrayal. The sisters' conversations reveal how the same childhood experiences affected them in different ways. Their relationship highlights the varying ways people process grief, forgiveness, and family conflict, reminding readers that there is no single correct way to heal from emotional pain.

The memoir project gradually becomes more than a professional assignment. It transforms into a shared journey through the family's past, uncovering painful truths that had remained hidden for years. As mother and daughter continue talking honestly, they begin recognizing the misunderstandings and assumptions that kept them apart for so long. Although forgiveness does not happen overnight, each conversation weakens the bitterness that has defined their relationship for years.

The novel reaches its emotional peak as Ruby finally confronts the depth of her anger and grief. She realizes that holding onto resentment has not protected her from pain but has instead prevented her from moving forward with her own life. Nora, in turn, fully accepts responsibility for the hurt she caused and stops trying to justify her choices. This mutual honesty creates the possibility for genuine reconciliation, even though neither woman can erase the past.

By the end of the story, Ruby and Nora have not created a perfect relationship, but they have rebuilt something far more meaningful than either believed possible. They begin to understand that forgiveness is not about forgetting painful memories or pretending mistakes never happened. Instead, it is about accepting the past while choosing not to let it define the future. Their renewed bond gives both women a chance to heal wounds that had remained open for decades.

Summer Island is a deeply moving novel about the lasting impact of family relationships and the courage required to repair them. Kristin Hannah writes with warmth, compassion, and emotional honesty, creating believable characters whose struggles feel authentic and relatable. The novel explores themes of love, betrayal, redemption, forgiveness, and personal growth while reminding readers that families are rarely perfect. Even after years of separation and heartbreak, understanding and compassion can create new beginnings. Through its heartfelt storytelling and memorable characters, Summer Island delivers a powerful message that while the past cannot be changed, people can still choose forgiveness, rebuild trust, and find hope in the relationships that matter most.